By Sulayman Bah
The earlier phenomenon of hiring and firing coaches is put to bed the better for the Gambia national team, 
according to China-based footballer Bubacarr Steve-Trawally.
Gambia has never before qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations or World Cup at senior level, changing gaffers a dozen times in its fifty-four years association with the football world.
Caf U-17 winners’ medal and world Cup qualification in the U-20 category ticks hugely in the country’s records but such feats is proving herculean to replicate with the senior Scorpions.
Eight coaches have been shooed in an out of the door from 1987 to date beginning with a certain Hans Heiniger –first foreign coach -from 1987-92.
The swapping of gaffers have had a telling effect in every aspect of the country’s period in the qualifiers and star player Bubacarr Trawally believes the sooner this biting conundrum is tackled including provision of test games for the team’s strong bonding, the better for all involved.
‘Problems in Gambian football are a lot and we will always keep repeating the same things,’ the 21-year-old, who won his first senior cap as a late substitute in the 1-0 first-leg defeat to Cameroon, tells Foroyaa Sport from his Yanji residence in China.
‘Changing coaches every time is not something that’ll help us plus the travel arrangements to matches is not really good for us. Everyone will tell you the same thing! I believe things could’ve been made better. If we want to qualify, this current group of players should be brought together,’
Team bonding remains pivotal in any team’s upward trajectory and the former Stockholm Football Club playmaker thinks the lack of it coupled with fielding a batch of new players every game, does the Scorpions chances no good.
‘Let us play a lot of test matches that we will use to familiarize our style of play with; and hopefully when the qualifier time comes, we won’t be lagging behind. But is always difficult to come and play with a new team every time. Let’s support the coach, give him time, and also support us the players. Give us time and Insha Allah, we shall achieve the desired results for our nation, The Gambia!
Stevon, as Chinese club fans would like calling him, have had a terrific start in his first year in the cash-rich Chinese Super League, helping ensure Yanbian Funde’s stay in the top flight.
Trawally scored ten times, joint-fourth highest scoring African player in the league behind Demba Ba (14), Zambia’s Chamanga (14) and Senegal’s Diagne (13), in a total of twenty-six appearances.
